Robin, Squires Win National Titles

By Athletics Communications

University of Oklahoma

APRIL 12, 2014

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Alec Robin won not one, but two national titles and Michael Squires defended his title on still rings as Oklahoma took home three national titles and nine total All-America honors at the NCAA Individual Event Finals on Saturday.

Robin’s national titles were the first two of his career. A three-time All-American last season, the junior added two more with first-place finishes on floor and vault. The junior is the sixth Sooner to win two or more titles in the same season.

Squires won back-to-back national titles with a score of 15.800 on still rings, joining U.S. Olympian Jonathan Horton as the only two Sooners in program history to win two still rings national championships.

The duo become the ninth and 10th OU gymnasts with multiple national titles. An Oklahoma gymnast has now stood at the top of the podium at the NCAA individual finals 10-straight seasons dating back to 2005.

Robin scored 15.425 on floor exercise, an event in which he was ranked No. 1 in the country the majority of the season, sticking his dismount for an exclamation point. A short time later, Robin again stuck his dismount on vault, scoring 15.250 and claiming the title a year after finishing second in the event.

A former walk-on, Squires was the prohibitive favorite coming and lived up to the pressure, winning the title by .075 points over C.J. Maestas of Illinois. He’ll have a chance to make it an unprecedented three in a row as a senior next season.

The Sooners almost made it four titles with junior Michael Reid finishing second on pommel horse with a score of 15.175 to become a first-time All-America.

Four others Sooners also came away with All-America honors as OU tied Illinois with nine overall. Junior Danny Berardini earned his third All-America citation on parallel bars with a 15.300 and a fourth-place finish. He also added his first All-America on high bar, coming in at eighth with a 14.650.

Freshman Colin Van Wicklen also took two citations, placing sixth on floor with a 15.025 and fifth on vault with a 14.950.

Continuing to compete on a broken foot suffered in warm-ups on Thursday, junior Will Clement put together an All-America routine on high bar and stuck his dismount even with the injury to earn his first-career citation. Clement took fourth with a 15.050.

Sophomore Kanji Oyama also competed at the finals, placing ninth on floor with a 14.875 to finish one spot out of All-America contention.

Oklahoma has won eight or more All-America honors every season since 2001, a span of 14-straight years.

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